The one thing I didn’t want to see ahead of Saturday’s Virginia-Delaware game was Des Kitchings coming in with a game plan that had him running the ball 55 times.
You could tell last week that Kitchings didn’t feel comfortable putting the outcome of the West Virginia game in the hands of his QB1, Beau Pribula, but going forward, Virginia is going to need to be able to attack defenses downfield.
Kitchings didn’t plan to run the ball 55 times against Delaware.
Pribula put the ball in the air 24 times in the first half, completing 21, four for TDs, in what turned into a 42-3 rout of the Blue Hens, who I incorrectly assumed would provide more resistance.
Delaware did ring up five sacks, two of Pribula, both on Virginia’s first drive, which ended in an 11-yard TD pass from Pribula to Da’Shawn Martin.
By and large, Pribula did a solid job of reading the Delaware defense, which does a lot similar to what you see from West Virginia, in terms of bringing pressures from different looks and mixing up its coverages.
“I think structurally we knew that with the way that they want to attack you, they kind of junk it up in the box, and knew that we probably needed to throw it to loosen things up to be able to run it later in the game. And then Beau got hot and got in the rhythm, and when you got a guy that’s got a rhythm going, you try to do everything you can to not mess it up,” UVA head coach Tony Elliott told reporters after the game.
The Delaware side, stubbornly, stuck to its defensive game plan, and even after Pribula was subbed out – final statline: 24-of-28, 279, four TDs – the Blue Hens continued to stack the box with backup Eli Holstein running the show.
Holstein was thus able to get some nice live reps behind center – final statline: 8-of-12, 153 yards, one TD.
O line play: stellar
The O line did a bonkers job with protections – the Pro Football Focus numbers had Pribula only under pressure on three of his 32 pass dropbacks; PFF also had Delaware blitzing on 18 of those 32 dropbacks.
Holstein was pressured on three of his 15 dropbacks; Delaware blitzed on 12 of his 15 dropbacks.
Cole Geer, the third-stringer, was pressured on one of his four dropbacks; the D blitzed on three of the four.
Big nights from Flores, Courtney
Wideout Rico Flores Jr., the UCLA transfer who has been limited dating back to training camp with a hamstring issue, had a breakout game on Saturday night – nine catches on 10 targets, 113 yards, one TD.
“It was just good to get Rico out there,” Elliott said of Flores, who had one catch on three targets on 37 snaps in the loss to WVU last week. “I think that’s what we thought that he could provide for us offensively, and unfortunately, he was hampered with the hamstring for camp and part of the early part of the season. So, it’s good to get him going.”
Also a big night for Kam Courtney, who had four catches on four targets for 87 yards and two TDs – one a nifty swing pass that had him running through the Delaware defense like a punt returner in open field 52 yards to the paydirt, the other an 18-yarder against one-on-one coverage completed with a second left on the clock in the first half.
“I told the guys in the locker room there’s probably nobody on offense that has me on him more than Kam Courtney, because he’s just, I think he’s got a ton of potential, ton of upside, and we got to see, you know, what that can be tonight,” Elliott said.
Kicking game woes
Will Bettridge was 24-of-26 on kicks of 30-39 yards in his UVA career ahead of last week’s game in Charlotte.
He’s missed his last two, including a miss from 37 in the first half Saturday night.
You have to be able to count on your kicker to make kicks under 40.
Bottom line.
“Bettridge is all-time leading scorer in school history, right? He’ll figure it out, right?” Elliott said, in response to being asked to address the recent misses.
“I’m not a kicking guru, so I’m not going, I’ll do more damage if I if I jump in there and start start messing with that,” Elliott said.
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Chris Graham
